The prior art shows a variety of devices having vertically arrayed containers of soil for growing plants.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,475 ussued to Hugh A. Johnson, Sr. on July 1, 1969, is shown a self-irrigating, multi-tiered planter to allow increased crop growing space in a limited amount of ground area. The Johnson '475 patent discloses a vertical array of circular planter tiers mounted on a common pole, each tier having a concentric, vertical divider screen 29 dividing each tier into two concentric, annular portions. The outer portion contains soil for growing plants and the inner portion is a basin for collecting water to nourish the plants. Each tier has an outlet 39 in the soil section to allow excess water to drain from the soil of one tier to a subjacent tier. Each tier has apertures 43 on the outer inclined wall to allow liquid overflow to drip onto a subjacent tier and overflow openings 45 to further allow excess water to drain to the subjacent tier through the centrally located tree.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,798, issued to Hugh A. Johnson, Sr. on Dec. 27, 1966, also shows a multi-tier planter. The '798 patent discloses a planter having a vertical tubular standard 28 centrally mounted in base tube 10. A number of disk-shaped trays are vertically stacked and are connected to a standard 28, for containing soil. Each tray has an inclined outer wall with perforations 46 to allow liquid to drip onto a lower tray. The vertically stacked trays provide a preferred area exposed to the sunlight and rain to allow soil to absorb water.
A self-irrigating display rack for plants is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,559 issued to Richard A. Carlyon, Jr., on Feb. 8, 1977. The display rack disclosed has a hollow vertical tube 14 mounted for rotation in a tub 12. Horizontal trays 18 are mounted on tube 14 which has apertures 20 and 22 to allow circulation of water inside tube 14 between the various vertical levels of the trays. Each tray has an inclined surface to display potted plants and drip holes 28 to drip excess water into subjacent tiers of trays.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,622 issued to Arthur Forney on June 24, 1969 shows a decorative fountain having two vertical posts each having a vertical array of planter trays. The fountain disclosed is composed of two upstanding vertical posts with a waterwheel rotating therebetween to decoratively display falling water. The posts in Forney pour water onto a vertical rotating impeller which drips water into vertically stacked trays. Each tray has a concentric circular array of holes allowing water to drip through each stack of the next subjacent teir.
Shown in U.S. Pat. No. 307,936 issued to G. W. Fry on Nov. 11, 1884, is a fruit and flower stand having a vertical post with several tiers of circular trays to display flowers and fruit mounted thereon. Water is fed to a centrally mounted tank on the top of the vertical stand and is sprayed on the display tiers by a mounted water sprayer F. This device provides a means to water plants and wet the fruit held in each tray to make it appear to be fresh and vital.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,880,364 issued to N. V. Sestito on Oct. 4, 1932 is disclosed an ornamental marker for vertically displaying plants. In Sestito, a plurality of plant pots are set up for growing individual plants, each pot mounted on a branch of a display stand. Each display pot has an individual sprinkler to provide water to the plant and a drain pipe attached to each pot to siphon off excess water.
In U.S. Pat. No. 147,849 issued to T. Leslie on Feb. 24, 1874 is disclosed a decorative fountain, wherein individual flower pots are mounted to display flowers. In a cone-shaped flower stand, plants are planted in flower pots which are set in vertically stacked, circular tiers concentrically arrayed around a central post in a decreasing radius from the center of rotation of the planter. Each pot is located below an overflow from the tray immediately above it to allow it to receive overflow water from the above pot. A drain pipe H is provided at the bottom of each plant pot to collect some of the excess water from each pot and allow it to drain into a central pipe for disposal.